As a Canadian who is soon to be married to a Yorkshire lass.. I'm trying desperately to get into football (more to impress the brothers).

Can someone give some insight as to what it means to be "invited to train?" I assume the team is going to kick his tires but what are the potential outcomes?

And any guesses (historically) to how many move on from the invitation to climbing the ladder to make the team?

Thanks for any insight... What are the chances I'll end up having to buy a Man Utd kit?

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Hah. First of all, best of luck for your marriage, you sure seem to be taking an effort!

Secondly, loads and loads of youngsters are invited to train to OT every year. If they impress the coaching staff, then they are usually given a contract.
Historically I think only one from around 60-70 youngsters(including trainees) make the grade to senior team. However this is a different case, as the player is already an international footballer with Canada, so his chances of getting a contract should be higher than the other cases.

As a Canadian who is soon to be married to a Yorkshire lass.. I'm trying desperately to get into football (more to impress the brothers).

Can someone give some insight as to what it means to be "invited to train?" I assume the team is going to kick his tires but what are the potential outcomes?

And any guesses (historically) to how many move on from the invitation to climbing the ladder to make the team?

Thanks for any insight... What are the chances I'll end up having to buy a Man Utd kit?

Click to expand...

We usually invite talented youngsters to come in and train at the club for a closer look. It's basically a trial.
We invite a lot of youngsters, don't really know how many we actually end up signing though.
As for the United kit, she's from Yorkshire so I would find out who the brothers support first
If they support Leeds the United kit wouldn't go down well.

Definitely has excellent pace over longer/middle distances. That might be understating it. Finished his chances well at the Gold Cup. Not technically as good as Scott Arfield (his teammate in midfield) was to give a Prem comparison, but he was 16 years old and Arfield is actually very clever and reliable on the ball as he's shown since replacing the injured Brady at Burnley the last few weeks.

He’s a speed merchant. Been following him here for a number of years now and seen him play a handful of local tournaments prior to him joining the Whitecaps as the youngest ever MLS player. The brightest young talent Canada has produced to date.

Don’t know if he’ll translate to much in all honesty just because of the gap between being a Canadian player and not having that same quality as European players get. He can get up the pitch in a flash and is quite dynamic. Technically he isn’t extraordinary but is effective. If anything he’ll have to really work on his consistency. Great to see a local boy ‘make it’. Everyone’s rooting for him here and let’s see how far he goes!

He is a left footed winger which Bayern need but, he is probably far away from being able to contribute at a side like Bayern. And does not turn 18 until November so will not be able to join Bayern until January.

He is a left footed winger which Bayern need but, he is probably far away from being able to contribute at a side like Bayern. And does not turn 18 until November so will not be able to join Bayern until January.

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The talk is of signing now and just training until November or maybe staying on loan at the Whitecaps until the end of the MLS season. Although just seen a different report that Vancouver want more than the $12m and Bayern aren't willing to go higher. We shall see.

He'd likely go on loan at some point if he does join. Probably just train with them and play some Bayern II games with the odd first team game and go on loan next season maybe.

He's scary quick and incredibly strong for his age and is good technically. If he has another level to go up (difficult to tell against MLS sides), he could be a star. It's a shame Vancouver will lose him, but it's inevitable. He's a great person, by all accounts. His speech in support of the North America World Cup bid was so mature and assured. His family fled Liberia, and he was born in a refugee camp in Ghana and ended up in Canada (Edmonton). It's incredible that he's still only seventeen yet he's been playing for two years for the 'Caps and has played (and scored) for his country too.

I'm not surprised that Davies has been linked to Bayern. They seem to have been keeping an eye on the U.S. and Canada for any talented young players there. There have been multiple reports of Bayern scouting a bunch of different young Americans in the U.S.

At this time, Davies is still quite raw. At the MLS, it works, but he might need to eventually take that step into Europe to develop his game further. It didn't do Pulisic any harm when he moved to Dortmund at a young age. Moving to Bayern, however, is a different story, but I guess it all depends on Davies and his attitude.

Must be some sort of rule against being a RW these days, fecking LW's the lot of them.

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It’s simply that the game has changed over the years to where wingers primary job isn’t to cross into the box, but to score goals, so they play on the opposite side to allow them to shoot from a better angle.

There were always more right footed wingers/players than left, but in the past, right-footed players primarily played on the right. I grew up with the age-old debate of ‘who are England going to play on the left?’. That question even allowed Steve Guppy to get a game or two for England on the basis that he was left-footed, whereas if it were today, England would have just put Steve McManaman on the left and been done with it.

If we want a right-winger we need to find a left-footer, which are more rare.

A move to Bayern this early in his career would be a BIG mistake. Bayern are not much of a developing club and are not the right club for a kid as young as Davies. He is very talented indeed and I do think he should move to Europe if not now then next year for sure but to a league where he can develop his ability. Playing in Holland or Portugal would be the “smart” career choice. Hoping he does not make this move I am an avid watcher of MLS and he has blistering pace is very technical and strong as well for a 17 year old. He does not have much of a shot on him ( though he scored a screamer a week or so ago) but he can get passed 2 or 3 players with relative ease.